Docs / Make things
Images
The Images tab makes stills. Two kinds of engine live here: Reference Edit, which reworks an image you give it, and Ideogram 4, which puts words on a picture.
Choosing the engine
| Engine | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Auto (use Settings) | whatever Settings picks for this Mac |
| Reference Edit — Fast | image-to-image in 4 steps, about 1:20, several references — the default |
| Reference Edit — Standard | 8 steps, about 2:05, no LoRA |
| Reference Edit — Quality | 40 steps, about 3:50 — for final renders |
| Ideogram 4 — typography & layout | text in the image, with an optional reference |
The pill next to the menu says whether that engine is downloaded. An engine that needs more memory than this Mac has is greyed out and labelled needs a N GB Mac.
Reference images
Reference Edit needs at least one picture: drop it into Primary, and up to two more into the Multi-ref slots (or click one from Recent uploads). With two or more, name them in the prompt — the jacket from reference 1 and the street from reference 2.
Then set Aspect (16:9 1280×720 by default, down to smaller, faster sizes), Candidates (n) — 1 to 8 images per run — and Seed, and press Generate (⌘⏎ from the prompt).
Ideogram 4 — words on the picture
The first render downloads Ideogram 4 (about 28 GB, once). Commercial use needs a license from Ideogram.
- Simple — a plain prompt. Layout — the visual canvas (below).
- Render: Design (illustration, graphic) or Photographic (camera realism).
- Quality: Default (20 steps), Turbo (12, faster), Quality (48, slower). ⚡ Fast mode is lighter on memory for M1/M2 and smaller Macs.
- Use reference appears when a reference is loaded: Ideogram redraws it from a description rather than copying pixels. Leave it off and the reference is ignored — the panel warns you.
- Image palette sets up to 16 colours.
The Layout canvas
- Choose Layout. Drag on the frame to draw a box, or use Insert text / Insert object. Examples… loads a poster, logo, label or meme layout.
- With a box selected, set its Region (Text or Object), the Text (literal words) to render, an optional description, a Style, Align and Color.
- Boxes snap to thirds, the centre and each other while Snap is on.
Keys on the canvas, with a box selected:
Images — Layout canvas
Ideogram 4 in Layout mode, with a box selected.
| ← → ↑ ↓ | Nudge the selected box · add ⇧ for a bigger step |
| ⌫ | Delete the selected box |
| ⎋ Esc | Deselect the box · while editing its words, stop editing |
| ⌘Z | Undo |
A Layout render needs at least one box.